How does the Parliament determine and influence the making of India’s foreign policy? (2015, 10 Marks)
Foreign affairs are a Union subject, and Parliament alone may legislate on them (Article 246, Entries 10–21 of the Union List). Yet no statute regulates treaty-making, so under Article 73 the executive conducts foreign policy by default: it can sign and ratify treaties and use force without a parliamentary vote. Parliament therefore determines little directly but influences a great deal, a pattern visible since Jawaharlal Nehru’s time.
Where Parliament determines policy
- Legislation: under Article 253 it turns treaties into domestic law, for example the WMD Act (2005) implementing UNSC Resolution 1540. It also rewrote the nuclear deal’s terms through the supplier-liability clause of the 2010 civil liability law, a clause the SHANTI Act of December 2025 removed after passing both Houses within days; scrutiny has since shifted to a pending writ challenge.
- Constitutional amendment: after the Berubari opinion (1960), ceding territory needs an amendment. The Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh took effect only after the unanimous 100th Amendment (2015).
- Budget: the MEA’s and defence Demands for Grants must be voted.
Where it influences
- Questions, motions and debates extract information, record official positions and let the opposition expose errors. The 2025 monsoon session held a sixteen-hour debate on Pahalgam and Operation Sindoor.
- Committees: the Standing Committee on External Affairs scrutinises the MEA; its Twelfth Report (2026–27 grants) noted the MEA’s share of just 0.41% of the Union Budget, sought a 20% increase and urged a published foreign-policy document. The Consultative Committee offers informal briefings.
- Setting outer limits: parliamentary opinion foreclosed concessions in the 1962–63 Kashmir talks, and the unanimous 1994 resolution on Jammu and Kashmir binds every government.
- Coalition arithmetic: the Left withdrew support over the US nuclear deal, forcing a confidence vote on 22 July 2008.
- Legitimacy: a cross-party position strengthens negotiators abroad, as Robert D. Putnam’s two-level game predicts.
Limits
- No consent requirement: no treaty ratification, no war-powers vote, no confirmation of envoys and no intelligence oversight; the states, too, have no formal say.
- Retrospective: most debates come after the event, and committee reports are only recommendatory.
- Majority rule: cut motions fail wherever the government commands a majority, so budgetary control is largely formal.
- Thin capacity: falling sittings and no independent research service leave members dependent on the executive.
Conclusion
Parliament’s leverage depends on the party system rather than the Constitution: strong in coalitions, slight under majorities. Its role as a forum of public debate is nevertheless growing with India’s global profile. As trade agreements reach deeper into domestic regulation, a treaty-scrutiny committee on the British laying model would align procedure with India’s democratic credentials.